Saturday, February 9, 2008

Naughty, Naughty!

This week I've taken two workshops on writing sex. One was fairly straightforward. Dare I say vanilla. The second one, not so much. Passionate Ink, the Romance Writers of America special interest chapter is all about pushing the envelope. Sex with the door wide open, if you will.

What strikes me most is that the ladies hosting both, though, have been so open and generous. It's a great community of women empowered enough to write what they enjoy reading. S-E-X.

Remember when Nancy Friday's books were carried around in brown paper bags? Or hidden on your parents' bookshelves away from the "innocent" kiddies? Or Kate Millett or Anais Nin or the Story of O?

Not that I ever found those on my parents' shelves. But then again, they had issues..

I think that it is so wonderful that women can be entertained by sex (and no, I don't mean laughing at that date who tried to convince you it would be sooooo much bigger once it was hard). Men have been getting their rocks off for centuries while women wore chastity belts and corsets (sure, NOW they're fun...) and were warned they had better "lie back and think of England" rather than enjoy sex.

Thanks to the romance industry, women started getting their dose of fictional sex in the late 70s. Everyone disses the bodice rippers but women have always fantasied about the brawny dude sweeping them off their feet, right? And then the books started getting a little bit spicier. Then hotter. Now they have erotica and erotica romance and we're off to the races. Now women can browse for sex in the romance section of the book store and trade books with unabashed enthusiasm.

I share my books with some friends and the guys sort of stand around looking puzzled. Maybe they didn't realize we might be having fun without them.

Ain't it cool?